The present invention relates to a snowboard with very low weight and high mechanical strength.
Snowboards, surfboards, monoskis, water-skis and the like are conventionally manufactured according to two basic construction criteria which are derived from skiing: in particular, there are injection-molded boards and so-called sandwich boards.
Injection-molded boards use a mold into which the materials that constitute the lower part and the upper part of the snowboard are placed, injecting polyurethane of appropriate density which, by expanding, forms the core of the board.
This solution does not yield optimum results, since there are considerable difficulties in achieving high mechanical strength of the board; considerable weights are also obtained.
The sandwich method uses a wood core which has a structural function and is placed inside layers of stiffening material of various kinds, placed between a base and a topskin.
Two shaped elements made of plastics, generally ABS, are added to the wood core and form the ends; this solution, however, is not ideal, since inevitably there is a discontinuity between the shaped ends and the central part where the core is provided. Moreover, in order to round the edges of the board, as typically occurs, it is necessary to carry out preliminary machining of the edge of the wood core before embedding it between the layers of stiffening material of various kinds, with application of the laminae and of the lower base and of the upper topskin.
Although these boards have better mechanical strengths than boards produced by injection molding, they are not free from drawbacks, including the poorly bonded connection between the ends and the core and a relatively high weight, in addition to risks of deformation caused by the use of wood.